Inside Housing
08/08/2008
View all stories from this issue.
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‘Dark days’ predicted as repossessions soar
08/08/2008
Repossessions shot up by nearly 50 per cent in the first half of 2008 compared with the same period last year.
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‘Give local authorities the tools and we will do the job’
08/08/2008
Housing minister Caroline Flint has promised help for councils whose tenants had rejected traditional routes such as stock transfer to raise cash to meet the decent homes standard.
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Accounts amnesia
08/08/2008
I read with increasing incredulity the claim that the Treasury is now the net beneficiary of the surplus from tenants’ rents, the latest assertion being made by Waverley Council (Inside Housing, 1 August).
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After the floods
08/08/2008
Could more have been done to help the thousands affected by last year’s floods?
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Aggressive response to recession
12/08/2008
Building firm Rok has announced plans to cut back work for commercial developers and ‘aggressively’ expand its social housing business in anticipation of a coming recession.
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Association scraps 'tick-box' equality policy
08/08/2008
A housing association is abandoning its ‘tick-box’ equality policy in favour of consulting with tenants directly.
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Authorities must not pass the buck
08/08/2008
A former housing minister has blasted local authorities which have failed to access decent homes funding.
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Basic rights
11/08/2008
Nobody working in housing can have any doubts about the far-reaching consequences of human rights legislation - just ask London & Quadrant, to take a recent example.
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Battle for councils to build is won but war is far from over
08/08/2008
Politicians and professionals call for substance behind housing minister’s ‘level playing field’ promises
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Bonds bounce back
08/08/2008
The Housing Finance Corporation has issued its first new bonds since the start of the year.
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Boris lets Tory council slash social housing
07/08/2008
London mayor Boris Johnson’s right-hand man has given a Conservative council permission to cut all social housing from a major development on public land.
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Bradley in the Moat
08/08/2008
The sales and marketing team at Moat has appointed Laura Bradley as customer resource manager, Cheryl Tilbury as customer resource team leader, and David O’Donovan as their customer service advisor.
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Builder looks to housing associations for sales
14/08/2008
Newcastle-based house builder Bellway is looking to housing associations to shore up its struggling market.
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Capewell will cope well
08/08/2008
Family Housing Association (Birmingham) has appointed John Capewell to its senior management team as head of property services.
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Charities moot legal fight to save wardens
08/08/2008
Two major older people’s charities are considering legal action to force the government to tackle the widespread loss of resident wardens.
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Chief executive pay hits a new high
08/08/2008
The chief executive of one of the UK’s largest housing associations raked in nearly a third of a million pounds last year following a huge pay hike.
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Clearing the streets
08/08/2008
This autumn, the Communities and Local Government department is expected to launch a new strategy to reduce rough sleeping to as close to zero as possible.
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Code to punish rogue sale and rent firms
08/08/2008
Homeowners selling their properties to companies running ‘sale and rent back’ schemes could be offered compensation if they are treated badly.
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Complex city
08/08/2008
An exploration of homelessness uncovers a hidden world, finds Philippa Ward
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Comprehensive failure as regulator
08/08/2008
At last the Ujima inquiry has reported (Inside Housing, 1 August).
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Corporation bats off the back foot
08/08/2008
The comments in last week’s Inside Housing missed one important aspect brought out by the report into Ujima’s demise: the weakness inherent in the Housing Corporation’s powers.
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Cost analysis
08/08/2008
The media recently reported that Raglan Housing Association used a section 106 planning deal to provide social housing in the Sandbanks area of Poole popularly known as Millionaires’ Row.
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Council ‘failed to deal’ with abusive warden
08/08/2008
South Tyneside Council has been slammed by the Local Government Ombudsman for failing to protect sheltered tenants from a bullying and abusive warden.
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Councils set to lend cash
08/08/2008
Local authorities could become mortgage lenders to first-time buyers and homeowners facing repossession, under proposals being developed by London Councils.
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Crunch-hit landlords to escape sanctions
08/08/2008
The Housing Corporation will not punish housing associations that miss their house building targets because of the credit crunch.
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Developers chosen for zero carbon site
13/08/2008
A consortium of housing associations and architects has been picked to build an environmentally friendly development in Peterborough.
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Ditched association back in favour
08/08/2008
A housing association that was dropped from the Housing Corporation’s list of approved developers has been reinstated after receiving a clean bill of health.
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Experts slate 'naive' regeneration study
14/08/2008
Regeneration experts have condemned a report calling for home building activity to be focused on the south.
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Falling price of flats drives market slump
12/08/2008
The falling price of flats is driving the slump in the housing market, according to government figures.
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Forecast: changeable
07/08/2008
Even by the recent standards of housing market forecasting, seven weeks must represent some kind of record for admitting you got it wrong.
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Free as a bird
08/08/2008
Jonathan Free has been appointed to the board of Havebury Housing Partnership as chair.
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Friends united
08/08/2008
As a new study reveals, grassroots efforts can be the key to community cohesion.
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Getting what you deserve
08/08/2008
Another week, another record-breaking salary.
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Good news and bad news
08/08/2008
Mortgage arrears up 20%. Repossessions up 41%. No surprises, says the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), in a press release that makes you wonder how it would react to really bad news.
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Goulding joins Dunelm
08/08/2008
Gill Goulding has joined Dunelm Property Services, the Esh Group’s social housing provider, as business development manager.
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Government probes quality inconsistencies
08/08/2008
The government has discovered big discrepancies in the way landlords interpret whether their homes reach acceptable minimum standards.
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Green town plans ‘greatly improved’
08/08/2008
The experts monitoring eco-town progress has reported huge improvements in the proposals of the ten remaining bidders.
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Housing associations take on knife crime
13/08/2008
Four London housing associations have teamed up in the fight against gun and knife crime.
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Human rights and wrongs
08/08/2008
A storm has been brewing for some time in the courts about this issue.
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Law will force councils to respond to residents
12/08/2008
Local authorities are to be forced to respond to petitions from residents under government plans.
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Lib Dems demand community action on youth crime
07/08/2008
Labour’s approach to tackling anti-social behaviour has criminalised a generation of young people, the Liberal Democrats have said.
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Local authority and ombudsman clash
08/08/2008
A council has accused the local government ombudsman of ‘overstepping the mark’ after he ruled it had mishandled a mother’s homelessness plea.
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London Councils issues green paper demands
11/08/2008
London Councils has called for local authorities to be given greater control over housing allocations, in a wishlist published ahead of the government’s next housing green paper.
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Marsh: we will ask the tough questions
08/08/2008
New tenants should be offered an alternative to tenancy for life, the man appointed to head up the new social housing scrutineer has suggested.
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New Prospect not ‘struggling’
08/08/2008
I am writing in response to the article Opportunity knocks (Inside Housing, 18 July), which appeared in my name.
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Numbers game not the one to play
08/08/2008
Local authorities are urging the government to place less emphasis on housing numbers and more on affordable housing and sustainability.
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Ombudsman slates Islington in disability row
12/08/2008
The local government ombudsman has slammed Islington Council for ignoring the needs of a disabled resident.
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Planning policy slammed for neglecting rural housing
11/08/2008
Revised planning rules on industrial and commercial development should take into account the need for affordable homes in rural areas, according to consultation responses.
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Politicians demand legal right to housing
13/08/2008
The right to housing should be included in a UK bill of rights, an influential group of MPs and lords has advised.
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Poll shows dissatisfaction with HRA
08/08/2008
The vast majority of housing officers in the Association of Retained Council Housing group believe councils should have control over their social housing finance.
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Public eye
08/08/2008
Landlords will need to be more vigilant about their decision-making processes, says Chris Handy
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Regeneration areas hit by market slump
12/08/2008
Regeneration areas have been hit harder by the property market slump than other types of development, according to figures.
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Renewal fund to the rescue
08/08/2008
The Yorkshire and Humber regional housing board could plough funds earmarked for private sector renewal into mortgage rescue schemes.
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Report uncovers rise in unemployed tenants
11/08/2008
The proportion of people living in social housing who are unemployed is increasing, a study has found.
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Right to buy faces axe in Scotland
11/08/2008
The Scottish Government is poised to end the right to buy for all new social housing tenants.
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Ruff sleepers
08/08/2008
Kath Grant discovers a scheme where giving a dog a home means their owner gets one too
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Sector a victim of its own success
08/08/2008
I agree completely with the sentiments of Steve Kilsby’s excellent letter (Inside Housing, 25 July).
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Service culture needs attention
11/08/2008
The head of a new organisation to represent the UK’s consumers has slated social housing providers for lacking a ‘culture of consumer service’, as the organisation set out its initial plan of action.
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Shepherd and his flock
08/08/2008
Sentinel Housing Association has appointed Mike Shepherd and James Pennington as assistant directors (growth) in its development team.
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Some councils are draining the HRA
08/08/2008
I read Nicola Reader’s letter with much interest (Inside Housing, 25 July).
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Taking over the asylum
13/08/2008
Even one of the authors admits that some people will see the idea as ‘plain barmy’. A report for the think-tank Policy Exchange says today that the government should abandon regeneration efforts in the North and build all 3m new homes in London, Oxford ...
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Tenant focus must be sharp
08/08/2008
Peter Marsh’s mug shot on the Housing Corporation website hints at a free spirit.
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The kids are all right
08/08/2008
Hamid Khan, the youth development and engagement co-ordinator at Kensington Housing Trust, gives usan idea of what his day entails
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Timely reminder
12/08/2008
Remember the days before the credit crunch? The time when 3m homes by 2020 still looked possible, zero carbon homes by 2016 seemed inevitable and section 106 seemed a surefire delivery mechanism for affordable homes.
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Watered down
08/08/2008
How green will the Thames Gateway be? Faced with climate change and official dithering, not very green at all.
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Welsh association branded 'unsatisfactory' by watchdog
13/08/2008
The Welsh social housing regulator has condemned an association for failing to provide a satisfactory service, and showing little capability to improve.
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Whitton goes to Freeth Cartwright
08/08/2008
Freeth Cartwright’s social housing practice has appointed Sheila Whitton as a partner and Simon John as senior solicitor.
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Willing volunteer
08/08/2008
Former housing minister Hilary Armstrong was a key figure in the Blair era. Now she’s taking an interest in housing again.
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Wings of a Dove
08/08/2008
Caroline Dove has been promoted to director on the board of housing and regeneration design consultancy HTA.